Research and Development of Viscous Fluid Dampers for Improvement of Seismic Resistance of Thermal Power Plants: Part 7 — Evaluation of Lifetime Using Experimental Design Method

In 2011, Great East Japan Earthquake that was the largest earthquake in Japanese history occurred. The earthquake had large acceleration, long duration and a lot of aftershocks, and coal-fired thermal power plants were damaged by the earthquake. Boiler structures in coal-fired thermal power plants are generally high-rise structures, and boilers are simply suspended from the top of the support structures in order not to restrict thermal expansion. Therefore boilers are easy to vibrate. In order to suppress vibration of boilers during earthquakes, stoppers are generally set between boilers and support structures. The stoppers are made of steel, and dissipate vibration energy by plastic deformation. However aseismic requirements for thermal power plants have been increased as a result of the Great East Japan Earthquake. Thus authors have developed a vibration control damper for coal-fired power plants. The damper is set instead of conventional stopper. Construction of the damper is similar to oil dampers, but inner fluid is viscous fluid. In PVP 2017, the basic performance of the proposed damper was presented. In PVP 2018, influence of dispersion of damper properties was also investigated. In addition, seismic response analyses using various earthquakes that include long period and long duration earthquake waves were carried out. As a result of previous investigations, it was confirmed that the proposed damper has good performance in its lifetime. However, parameters of dampers were selected manually. Therefore, influence of parameters of dampers on the lifetime were evaluated theoretically by using the experimental design method in this paper. The experimental design method is one of the effective techniques for research such as investigation of the influence of the habitat environment on the growth of crops. The selection of damper parameters is complex optimization, because so many variables need to be optimized. Therefore the experimental design method is suitable technique for the evaluation of damper parameters. This paper evaluates lifetime of dampers from the viewpoint of the experimental design method.

Evaluated Results of Seismic Design Approach Using Inelastic Dynamic Analysis for Equipment

Securing adequate seismic safety margins has been important in safety reviews regarding the seismic design of equipment and piping systems in nuclear power plants, and there exists an increasing need for a more exact method for evaluating these margins. To this end, it is reasonable to take into account the reduction of seismic responses resulting from inelastic deformation. The authors studied this approach utilizing an elastic allowable limit in existing standard. The applicability of the proposed evaluation method was investigated by comparison with the conventional evaluation method. The proposed method consists of an inelastic dynamic analysis and an elastic-static analysis. The elastic-static analysis uses a load obtained from the inelastic dynamic analysis. For the investigation, the result obtained from the proposed method was compared with that obtained from the conventional elastic analysis to quantify the reduction in responses leading to seismic safety margins. For the comparison, the authors constructed three models that simulate a cantilever-type beam, four-legged tank, and core shroud and applied them to the analysis herein, and the applicability of our method was discussed for these models. In this paper, we present three topics. First, we present a scheme for developing the design approach of using inelastic analysis. Second, we report a sensitivity study of model parameters, such as yielding stress and second stiffness, done by analyzing the cantilever-type beam for the proposed method. Finally, we report the application of the method to the four-legged tank and core shroud.

Retrofitting Non-Ductile RC Frames for Seismic Resistance Using Post-Installed Shear Walls

Reinforced Concrete (RC) frame structures that were designed and built according to older standards can be damaged during destructive earthquakes as a result of insufficient lateral strength and/or deformation capacity. Such structures must be retrofitted to satisfy the current requirements and to survive future earthquakes. Owing to its high lateral strength and stiffness capacity of an RC wall, the post-installation of an RC wall in a non-ductile frame for retrofit is a widely used retrofitting technique. However, for frame structures with low-strength concrete, the typically used connected construction method on the interface between existing and new concrete may be not able to provide effective force transfer, and may cause unexpected brittle failure in the retrofitted structure. Such unexpected brittle failure may reduce the seismic capacity of the structure and threaten its safety. Therefore, in this experimental investigation, two retrofitting methods that use a post-installed RC wall are proposed to improve the load transfer mechanism on the interface. The first involves a wall with diagonal rebar and boundary spirals, and the second involves a wall with an additional inner frame. A typical traditional retrofitting specimen was constructed and tested for comparison. Reversed cyclic loading is used to test the seismic capacity of the specimens. Finally, post-embedded piezoceramic-based sensors were used to monitor the structural health and detect damage in one of specimens during the test. The experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the piezoceramic-based approach to structural health monitoring and the ability of the method to detect damage in shear governed RC structures under seismic loading.

Mitigation of Rocking and Sliding Motion of a Free-Standing Structure Subjected to Base Excitation Using Coaxial Circular Cylinders Containing Highly Viscous Liquid in Annular Spaces

In this study, the effectiveness of coaxial circular cylinders containing a highly viscous liquid in annular spaces for reduction of rocking motion of a free-standing structure is investigated both analytically and experimentally. First, an analytical model of coupled rocking and sliding motions of a free-standing structure, including the coaxial circular cylinders, subjected to seismic input was derived. The free-standing structure was modeled as a free-standing rigid body. The cylinders were attached to the bottom of the rigid body as a damping device. We then experimentally derived the friction coefficients, inertia moments, and a damping coefficient in the rotating direction. Furthermore, using these parameters, the effectiveness of this system in suppressing the rocking motion is investigated analytically. The proposed method was determined to be very effective in suppressing the rocking motion of a rigid body subjected to a seismic input by the experiment.

High Performance Structural Vibration Control by a Preview of the Future Seismic Waveform Generated With a Wave Transmission Network and an AI-Based Estimation System

We propose a new active vibration control strategy based on the future seismic waveform information obtained in remote observation sites. The waveform information in the remote site is transmitted by a waveform transmission network to the structure under control. The waveform transmission network is realized by interconnecting multiple controlled structures and observation sites. By using the future waveform information obtained through the network, we propose a control law realizing fairly higher control performance over the conventional structural control methodologies. A preview control law consisting of the state-feedback and feedforward control (preview action) is adopted. For the preview action, future values of the disturbance in some time interval are necessary. However, because the future value of the earthquake waveform is unknown, the preview action contributing the performance improvement is generally impossible. To get over this difficulty, an AI-based wave estimation system to estimate the future earthquake waveform is proposed. The wave estimation system is a multi-layered artificial neural network (ANN). Through a small scale simulation study with a recorded earthquake event in Japan, we show that the proposed control method achieves much higher control performance over the conventional LQ-based active control.

Assessment of Free Standing Body in Dry and Submerged Condition and Under Seismic Loading

A free standing, slender body may experience rocking motion followed by overturning when it is subject to strong seismic motions. When the free body is submerged in water, it will also be subject to lateral forces acting along the side of the free body as a result of water sloshing. This highly non-linear situation is of particular interest to engineers in the nuclear industry in need to assess the stability of transfer casks containing spent fuel and submerged in a confined pit or pool. In this work, a three-dimensional finite element dynamic transient model of a free standing cask is developed and analyzed using ANSYS. Both dry and submerged conditions are considered. Cask to floor friction, buoyancy force, and sloshing are accounted for in the assessment. The model is validated against well-accepted contributions on sloshing and rocking provided by G.W. Housner.

Seismic Test Results of Air-Operated Valve Actuators for Nuclear Power Plants (Air-Operated Globe Valve (Cylinder Type))

It is believed that air-operated globe valves are able to operate during and after earthquakes, leading to maximum accelerations beyond the existing allowable acceleration for nuclear power plants in Japan (6 × 9.8 m/s2). In this work, this assumption is verified using a resonance shaking table for seismic testing at acceleration levels of 20 × 9.8 m/s2 (see Ref. [1]). Results show that the active components used in existing air-operated globe valve designs remain operable at 22 × 9.8 m/s2 (horizontal (X and Y) and vertical (Z) directions).

Optimal Design of Tuned Mass Dampers With Variable Inerter and Damping

Conventional tuned mass damper (TMD) is a popular and generally accepted vibration control device in the field of passive structural control. However, it was found that the control efficacy of a conventional TMD may significantly degrade when the TMD’s frequency does not tune to its desired value. In addition, the vibration energy of controlled structure transferred into the TMD is dissipated by viscous or friction damper and becomes waste heat. In this paper, a new type of TMD, called electromagnetic TMD inerter (EM-TMDI) is developed by replacing the viscous dampers with electromagnetic rotary transducers so that a more flexible viscous damping can be achieved and part of the energy originally dissipated by the dampers could be harvested. A flywheel with variable mass moment of inertia will be introduced into the transmission system of the TMD to adjust TMD’s frequency to mitigate the frequency detuning effect and to enhance the control efficacy of TMD system. The theoretical derivation is performed to generate the relationship between the DC motor and the transmission system of the EM-TMDI. Optimal design method considering the inerter of rotary transducers will be developed. This study first designed and manufactured a scale-down, double-deck EM-TMDI. A series of shaking table tests were conducted at NCREE Tainan laboratory to verify the capability of inerter to change TMD’s frequency.

Low-Cycle Fatigue of Base-Plate-to-Shell Connection in Uplifting Liquid Storage Tanks Under Seismic Loading

Unanchored steel tanks, subjected to strong seismic loading, may exhibit base plate uplifting. Under repeated uplifting, the welded connection of the tank base plate with the tank shell (a fillet-welded connection) is subjected to strong cyclic deformation, involving reverse plastic loading, and this could lead to failure of the welded connection in the form of low-cycle fatigue cracking. In the present paper, an experimental program is described, supported by numerical finite-element simulations. The tests are aimed at investigating the mechanical response of small-scale welded specimens, representing the connection of the base plate with the tank shell, subjected to uplifting loading conditions. The research has been partially supported by European research project INDUSE-2-SAFETY, on the seismic safety and resilience of critical components in industrial plants.

Ratcheting Behaviour of 3D Printed and Conventionally Produced SS316L Material

This paper shows some differences in stress-strain behavior of conventional and 3D print SS316L. First, the influence of strain rate on the monotonic curve has been investigated. Specimens produced by Selective Laser Melting technology were not so sensitive to the strain rate. Viscoplasticity has to be taken into account for cyclic loading modelling in the case of conventionally produced SS316L but not for the 3D printed material. A set of low-cycle fatigue tests was performed on specimens from both used production technologies. Uniaxial ratcheting tests were realized under constant amplitude of stress and varying mean stress. Experimental results show a good ratcheting endurance of SS316L produced by the Selective Laser Melting technology. Biaxial ratcheting tests were realized for 3D print SS316L only. Applied Digital Image Correlation technique makes possible to get more ratcheting curves from each ratcheting test.